


After the Races

by facts_machine



Category: The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Story Continuation, Thisby Island (The Scorpio Races), races
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23329033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/facts_machine/pseuds/facts_machine
Summary: A continuation of the story after the races are done. Gabe is leaving, Corr is lame, and Puck and Sean are, well, Puck and Sean.
Relationships: Puck Connolly/Sean Kendrick
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoy, this is my first stab at writing so wish me luck :)

**Puck**  
I wish he didn’t have to leave. More than that, I wish he wasn’t leaving _today_. The sky, sea and earth seemed to be at war with each other. The sky is sending torrents of rain that chill to the bone and sea tears at the cliffs. The cliffs of Thisby: hard and cruel. I’ve fallen the love with them. Gabe did not.

Gabe’s fallen in love with the serenity of the mainland. With its order and peace and clean swept streets, the mainland has taken countless men and women from Thisby. I never imagined it would take my brother.

It’s two days after the races, and the longest Gabe could wait before the weather got too bad to risk the journey. At 10am, in a mere 2 hours, Gabe will board the same boat and the American George Holly. And I won’t see him again until God knows when. Gabe, that is. I’ll see Holly next November I’m sure.

We all stand in the living room as Gabe looks around for things he’s forgotten to take. I think I’m handling it quite well, tidying up (as if that’s normal for me) and generally pretending that my brother isn’t leaving us today. Finn is wringing his hands and picking at his nails and sulking, handling it about as well as I expected. I see Gabe’s eyes fall on out father’s concertina on the mantel.

“Take it,” I say. Neither Finn nor I can play.

But Gabe just shakes his head. I was hoping he would leave it. Dad’s concertina has only ever played Thisby music and that’s all it ever should.

I’ve made a breakfast of tea, toast, eggs, and an orange. No beans, but also only one orange. Even with all the race winnings and the new job, we’re still losing our main earner. Now is not the time for splurges. But its definitely not the time for beans.

  
Breakfast is a silent affair. I think we’re all preoccupied with the small thing of what the rest of our lives will look like. Gabe too. Things aren’t set sure and certain on the mainland, and I know Gabe misses Tommy Falk terribly. The only sounds are the scraping of forks and knives and Finn tapping his fingers on the table. _Tap tap. Tap. Tap tap. Tap_. I sip my tea.

“Did you know Benjamin Malvern takes his tea with butter, milk, and salt,” I say, if only to say something.

“Is that so,” says Gabe, “Is it any good?”

“Not at all”

Then back to silence.

Finally, there’s nothing else to do, nothing else to delay us, so we head to town. Of course the Morris is gone, and Dove deserves a rest if she deserves anything. So we walk. Finn and I push our bikes so we don’t have to walk home. It’s not a nice day for it and it’s a shame this is Gabe’s last view of Thisby.

 **Sean**  
“Well then Mr. Holly, I suppose this is goodbye”

We’re standing at the docks and George Holly is wearing a travelling outfit you could never buy anywhere on this island. White shoes, white pants, and a mauve sweater isn’t what I would wear in this weather.

“Until next year, Mr. Kendrick,” Holly says with a smile, “and I do hope my predictions for your future hold true. I want my little red colt.”

“We’ll have to see,’ I say. Corr’s future is still so very uncertain. I’m itching to get back to him now. But I figured I owed Holly the goodbye since he’s leaving Finnedebar with me.

“And Kate Connolly too.”

“What about Puck?”

“Oh, just that she might be harder to tame than your capall uisce”

“I’m not fixing to tame her,” I tell him. There’s no hesitation in his pronunciation of capall uisce now. After mere weeks on the Island the horses have left their mark on him.

The boat’s horn blows. George Holly tips his hat and steps onto the boat. I wave once and wait for the boat to pull away.

I see Puck just a few metres away in the crowd. Her face is set it a calm mask, but even from here I can see the tears behind her eyes. I want to go to her, I need to go to her, and the needing frightens me. The quiet inside me lurches and I can feel the pull of Puck on me. But I shouldn’t go. I shouldn’t intrude in her private family matters. I should go back to the cave and check on Corr and change his wraps. I should figure out where I’m going to sleep tonight.

I go to Puck anyways.

  
**Puck**

“I’ll miss you both, you know that. And I’ll come back. To visit,” Gabe says at the docks.

“To visit,” I spit back at him. Not to stay, not to come home.

“Yes, Puck, to visit. You knew this. Now stop, because you’re bothering Finn.”

And that’s true enough, so I leave it be, “Sorry Finn.”

“And you’ll write?” Finn asks.

“Yes, of course. I’ll write. I’ll tell you about all my adventures and wrap the letter in money, and you’ll keep me updated with the news of the Island, and if your sister gets into trouble”

“Hey!” I say with a scowl, but the scowl doesn’t say for long, because I know he doesn’t mean it like that.

With nothing left to say, Gabe opens his arms and folds us into a tight hug. Then Beech Gratton is there and the horn blows and it’s time to go.

“We’ll miss you,” I say. Gabe smiles back and I can see a tear in his eye.

I wrap my arm around Finn’s shoulder. _I won’t cry_. Gabe is actually leaving. For the past month I’ve known. For the past month I’ve known. But now it’s real. Before, there was a chance he would stay – that he wouldn’t get on the boat. But now he’s on the boat and no amount of race earnings is going to keep him.

I see Sean through the crowd. The first thought through my head is that he’s here for me. But that’s ridiculous. He’s obviously here to send off George Holly. I push Sean to the back of my mind and train my eyes back on the boat. As the boat pulls away Gabe turns away to talk to Beech and I feel a tear run down my cheek.

“Puck Connolly”

It’s Sean. I wipe my eyes.

“Sean. Hello.”

“I won’t ask you how you are,” Sean says, “But I needed to say hello.”

My mind catches on the word needed. It’s a very Sean thing to say, and it sets something moving in my stomach.

“Hello, Sean Kendrick”

“Hello”

Finn looks back and forth between us. And Sean and I keep looking at each other.

“Come for lunch,” says Finn. _Says FINN._ I whirl my head to him, shocked. “It’ll be different anyways, at least this way it won’t be lonely.”

I see Sean look towards the sea and I know he’s thinking of Corr. I’m thinking of Corr too.

“I have to check on Corr and change his wraps,” Sean sighs. I knew it was coming but my stomach falls anyways. “But I’ll come when I’m done? 12:30? I’ll pick up bread.” And just like that I’m smiling.

“That would be nice,” I say. Sean smiles. It’s a fleeting thing, his smile, but impossible to miss if you’re watching, and I’m watching.


	2. Chapter 2

Sean

I don’t own much, but it’s all damp. After my term at Malvern Yards ended so abruptly there was no where else to bring my meager possessions than the cave on the beach where Corr was staying. Benjamin Malvern is not a generous man. So I’m still uncertain why after the disaster of the races Corr and I are still free of him. Of course I know Puck had something to do with it, but I have no idea what she could’ve said, and something makes me sure that releasing Corr and I was not a kindness. But still, Benjamin Malvern is not a generous man - he didn’t even give me a full day after the races to take my stuff and get out. Not near enough time to get Corr to my father’s house, not even enough time to get lodgings at the hotel since tourists were still checking out. Besides, I couldn’t afford to stay there anyways.

After staying in a cave with a meat-eating horse I’m not sure I’m ready to sit down at Puck’s table, but there’s nothing to be done now. I’m sure I smell like sea and horse, but Puck should be used to that. The people at Palsson’s are not though, and I see plenty of noses wrinkle when I walk into the bakery to buy the bread for Puck.

All the way to Puck’s I doubt myself: who am I to intrude on their private matters so soon after Gabe left? I’m poor company at the best of times, and now I’ve left half of my mind in the cave with Corr. But then I think of sitting on the cliffs the night before the race and I think of the ribbon still tied around her wrist, and I keep walking towards Puck’s.

Puck

Sean Kendrick is at my door. And he smells like horse. And he seems … damp? But he’s here and he brought bread. There’s no Tommy Falk this time, no Gabe, and no chicken.

“I made soup,” I say, “The bread will be nice with soup.”

Sean nods, and I step aside to let him in. I’m not sure what this visit will be. I wasn’t expecting company for our first lunch without Gabe. But Sean is here now and even though we’ve only had a meal like this once before, it feels routine, it feels familiar, when he starts wordlessly cutting the bread.

“I owe you a thank you, I think,” Sean says, “Corr and I both.”

“It was the least I could do, really. Dove and I wouldn’t have been on that beach without you” I see Sean stop cutting the bread out of the corner of my eye.

“You don’t owe me anything. You were on that beach because you deserved to be. Because you’re brave and tenacious and – “

I kiss him then.

Sean’s hand goes to my waist and he pulls me towards him. I just barely have to lift up on to my toes to reach his lips properly. With his other hand Sean lets my hair out of its ponytail and he weaves his fingers into the wild mess of hair. Just then, I hear Finn as he comes inside, and Sean and I break apart. With a small smile I reach for Sean’s wrist and find his pulse point. When Sean’s pulse fails to slow, I pull away from him with a smirk to put the soup on the table.

“I’m glad you invited me, Finn,” Sean says, somehow knowing that you don’t say thank you to Finn without me ever saying anything. 

“You’re welcome anytime,” Finn tells him, and once again I’m shocked by the bravery of Finn. I meet his eyes across the table and he gives me a small nod.

The rest of the meal passes rather quietly. We’ve put so much behind us in the past few days the future is a blank, howling expanse before us.

“Are you still sleeping at Malvern’s then, ‘til you can get to your father’s?” I ask.

Sean shakes his head, looking a little ashamed. It’s a new look on Sean, like he’s unused to worrying what people will think of him. “We both know Malvern’s not that kind,” he replies, “I’ve been busy with Corr on the beach so I’ve been there.”

“All night?” I’m shocked, even for Sean this seems extreme. “Sean it’s nearly winter, you can’t stay on the beach!”

“You could stay here,” Finn pipes up. “There’s an extra room and there’s an extra stall in the barn for Corr.” Finn looks up at me, like he expects me to be surprised that he’s letting Gabe go so quickly. But gradually I’m learning to not be surprised by much that Finn does. And maybe while I was busy finding ways to make Gabe stay for another couple of weeks, Finn was busy accepting it.

We don’t have a stall for Corr though. We have a stall beside Dove fit for an island pony, not a capail. Even if Corr is more grounded than most I’m still not sure I trust him that close to Dove all night or that I trust Dove not to work herself into a frenzy before morning.

I open my mouth, trying to figure out how to tell to Sean that we can only offer half of what Finn said, but convince him to take that half and stay, when Sean stops me in my tracks.

“I’ll think about it, is that ok?” and even though Finn offered, Sean looks to me for confirmation. I nod, a little put out that Sean prefers a dingy cave over staying with us, but maybe I can take some time to sort my words out and bring him around to the idea. 

Sean

Puck walks with me down to the beach after lunch and I try to figure out how to tell her that I’m worried Corr would eat her horse in her little stable over night and not have her hate him. And I’m trying to sort out the proper way to tell her I’ll take the room that doesn’t have Father Mooneyham shooting daggers at me if I see him in town. I’ve never much cared about the proper way of doing things before though, and I don’t think Puck has either.

“Corr can’t stay in your barn, not with Dove right there. And I’m not sure how he would make the trip up from the beach. But if you and Finn did mean what you said about the room and the stall, Finnedebar and I would gladly take you up on that offer.” Holly had paid the board for Finnedebar up to the end of the month, but she would need to go somewhere soon.

I look at Puck expecting to see surprise or regret in her eyes, but instead I see only relief.

“You’ve read my mind, Sean Kendrick,” she says with a small smile, “How’s Corr doing?”

A small weight lifts off my shoulder – the weight of sleeping on the beach, the possibility of having 2 homeless horses, and worrying about disappointing Puck. There’s lots of weight there yet, but for now I take Puck’s hand in mine, lead her towards the beach, and tell her about my red horse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And thanks for your kudos and comments :)))


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